This invention relates to airplane seats. More particularly, the invention relates to auxiliary airplane seats, that is kibitzer seats, embodying in combination unique structural features. It is to be understood, however, that while the auxiliary seats of this invention, for the sake of simplicity, are disclosed herein as they apply to airplanes, such auxiliary seats may also be utilized in other types of vehicles, such as automobiles, vans, trains and buses and the like, as well as in ships and other water-based vehicles and even in stationery structures, such as offices and rooms in homes and other types of buildings and the like.
The need for auxiliary type of seats, such as kibitzer seats, in order to accomodate additional passengers in moving vehicles on land, in water and in the air, as well as structural dwellings, such as houses, offices and apartments and other building structures has lead to research and development efforts which have resulted in a wide variety of such items over a long period of time. Exempletive of early efforts in this area of development is U.S. Pat. No. 1,180,340 which discloses an auxiliary seat having separately hinged back and seat bottom members which in their tucked, or folded, position are disposed in the side wall of an automobile body. On the other hand, U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,412,367, 1,464,352, 1,465,529, 1,617,901, 1,698,036, 1,723,511, 1,761,673 and 1,784,390 disclose a variety of disappearing furniture structures such as wall seats, chairs, tables and other folding structures, such as ironing boards and the like, which are built into the wall of a stationery structure such as the wall of a room in a house or office, or the like.
In contrast to the above-mentioned patents, U.S. Pat. No. 2,497,412 discloses a longitudinal locker cabinet provided with a plurality of doors each of which has disposed thereon a folding chair, the doors forming a component part of each chair when they are in open position, the structure being particularly adapted to be used on board a ship.
Still further, U.S. Pat. No. 2,523,960 discloses a double seat construction having foldable backs for use in airplanes, as well as other vehicles, and which is hingedly connected to the wall of an airplane or other vehicle, being foldable against the vehicle wall when the backs are folded down against the seat bottoms and the lower frame portions of such seat structures being provided with cargo hold down means or fittings that are exposed in operative position when the seat is in stored position. Finally, U.S. Pat. No. 3,594,037 discloses a wall-mounted compact thin profile cabin attendant seat which folds automatically when an occupant using the same arises, the seat housing an extensible headrest, tilting backrest and forwardly moving seat bottom frame all interlinked for simultaneous movement.
While the above-described seat structures have enjoyed varying degrees of acceptability and success in their various uses, their still exists a need for improved auxiliary seating structures, particularly in the aviation industry. The present invention fulfills this need.